Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, has been arrested by French police at an airport north of Paris. He was taken into custody after his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport.
Durov, who is 39 years old and a billionaire, was arrested based on a warrant for issues related to Telegram. The investigation is focused on whether Durov did enough to control illegal activities on the messaging app. He is accused of not having enough moderators to prevent criminal use of Telegram.
Durov was born in Russia but now lives in Dubai. He holds citizenship in both the United Arab Emirates and France. Telegram is very popular in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries that were part of the Soviet Union.
In 2018, Russia banned Telegram after Durov refused to give user data to the government. However, the ban was lifted in 2021. Telegram is one of the major social media platforms, alongside Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and WeChat.
Durov started Telegram in 2013 and left Russia in 2014. He sold his previous social media platform, VKontakte, after refusing to shut down opposition groups as requested by the Russian government.
Following his arrest, Russian officials and some others have criticized the action. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, asked whether Western human rights groups would speak out against Durov’s arrest. Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), also commented on the situation on social media. He used the hashtag #freepavel and made a post suggesting that the situation was extreme.
